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Deforestation Regulation - list of countries presenting a low or high risk

TA-10-2025-0149 · P10_TA(2025)0149 · PE774.488

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✦ In short · AI summary of this text, generated 4 Sept 2026

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Parliament considers that the Commission's Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1093 on country risk categories exceeds its powers and calls for its repeal. It urges the Commission to revise the benchmarking system with up-to-date data, regional differentiation, transparent weighting, and regular reassessment procedures. It stresses inclusive engagement with producer countries and calls for complementary measures like forest partnerships and technical assistance.

Key points

  1. The risk categorisation is based on outdated data and fails to reflect current land-use dynamics, forest degradation, and governance developments since 31 December 2020.
  2. Data from the Global Forest Resources Assessment predate 2020 and do not represent recent national efforts, satellite monitoring, or deforestation trends.
  3. The methodology lacks transparency in weighting risk factors and ignores regional variability within countries.
  4. The methodology focuses on aggregate historical deforestation rates, disregarding the multidimensional nature of deforestation risk and the full scope of indicators in Article 29 of Regulation (EU) 2023/1115.
  5. The current approach lacks flexibility for timely updates, creating market uncertainty and volatility.
  6. Without regular reassessment, country classifications become misaligned with evolving conditions, undermining the regulation's effectiveness and global commodity markets.
  7. The absence of clear pathways for countries to change their risk category through demonstrable progress undermines the regulation's role as a positive incentive.
  8. The low-risk criterion of net forest loss between 2015 and 2020 includes temporary forest cover change, undermining methodological consistency and legal certainty.
  9. The relative threshold of 0.2% annual forest area loss and absolute threshold of 70,000 hectares lack clear rationale; the United States falls just below the absolute threshold.
  10. The use of overall wood production as a proxy for deforestation risk is questionable, conflating lawful forestry with land-use change.
  11. The three risk categories are insufficient; a fourth 'negligible risk' category should be considered for countries with robust legal frameworks and low land-use change.
  12. The system risks oversimplifying risk and creating false security, potentially reducing due diligence for products from areas with illegal deforestation.

Who is affected

  • Countries producing relevant commodities, especially those classified as low or high risk, face potential misclassification and unfair labelling.
  • Environmental and civil society organisations from producer countries seek inclusive consultation involving indigenous communities and local stakeholders.
  • The Commission is called on to repeal and revise the implementing regulation and benchmarking system.

Figures and deadlines

  • 0.2% annual forest area loss threshold used in the risk categorisation methodology.
  • 70,000 hectares of annual forest loss absolute threshold.
  • 31 December 2020 cut-off date for data in the regulation.